The
Mexican director Enrique Rivero’s Spanish film ‘Parque
Via’ has bagged the Golden Crow Pheasant Award for the
best feature film at the 13th International Film Festival
of Kerala 2008. The Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the Best
Director and Best Debut Director goes to the Mariana Rondon,
the director of the Venezuelan film ‘Postcards from
Leningrad’ and Turkish filmmaker of ‘My Marlon
and Brando’ Huseyin Karabey respectively. Uberto Pasolini’s
Sri Lankan film ‘Machan’ has won Audience Award
for the best film.

The
director of ‘Firaaq’ has won the Special Jury
Prize for the debutant director. Argentinian filmmaker Amor
Hakkar’s ‘The Yellow House’ has also been
picked up by the Jury for the Special Prize.

It
is double honours for ‘Postcards from Leningrad’
as it has also been identified for the FIPRESCI award. The
FIPRESCI award for the best Malayalam film goes to Anjali
Menon’s ‘Manjadikkuru’. ‘My Marlon
and Brando’ has been awarded the NETPAC award for the
best Asian film and the award for the best Malayalam film
in this category goes to ‘Adayalangal’.

The
newly instituted Hassankutty Award for the best Indian debut
director has gone to Anjali Menon.

The
Golden Crow Pheasant Award also carries a Cash prize of Rs.10
lakhs. The winner of the Silver Crow Pheasant Award for the
Best Director carries home a Cash prize of Rs.3 lakhs while
Rs.2 lakhs is received by the Silver Crow Pheasant Award winner
for the Best Debut Director.

The
awards for media reporting have been bagged by IndiaVision’s
Seegi Kadakkal, Sangeetha Unnithan of The Hindu and Sajeev
Pazhoor of Desabhimani, Anil K.Nambiar of All India Radio
received special mention from the Jury.

‘Parque
Via’ distinguishes itself with its uniqueness of treatment
and experimentation. It tells the story of Beto, a caretaker
of a large house, whose life has been dragged by repetitiveness
and associated monotony. The film ‘Postcards from Leningrad’
portrays the tale of a couple caught by the pressures of life.
The trauma undergone by the partners in hiding and their pangs
at having to be separated from their daughter is aptly conveyed
by Mariana Rondon who was witness to guerilla warfare.

The
Jury of the 13th IFFK has watched the 14 films which were
selected for the competition section .Choosing the finest
among the lot was a tough task indeed for us. The decisions
arrived at after deliberations are as follows:

Special
Jury Award for the Best Debut Film:
Firaaq Dir: Nandita Das (101min/Hindi/2008)
For the in depth analysis of the Human crisis translating
into an honest cinema

Special Jury Award:
The Yellow House Dir:Amor Hakkar (84min/Algeria,France/2008)
Because of the originality of working in a cinematic language
that touches the hearts and the minds

Rajatha
Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 2.00 lakhs
Best Debut Film: My Marlon and Brando Dir:Huseyin Karabey
(92min/Turkey/2008)
For exhibiting the creativity of dealing with a romantic story
in the middle of conflicts in border areas.

Rajatha Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 3.00 lakhs
Best Director: Mariana Rondon for Postcards from Leningrad
For displaying a sensitivity of putting in the eyes of children
a revolutionary movement in an inventive language.

Suvarna
Chakoram and cash prize of Rs. 10.00 lakhs
(to be shared by the Director and Producer) for the Best Film:
Parque Via Dir:Enrique Rivero (86min/Mexico/2008)

With his first film Enrique Rivero has uses an appropriate
cinematographic language , showing how to narrate in a brilliant
way the tale of a simple man in his loneliness.